Aflatoxin contamination of foods is a well known problem, especially in developing countries. Aflatoxins also have been suspected to reduce human fertility
Aim of the study: to study the effect of aflatoxin B1 on the histological structure of the ovary in female rats.
Materials and methods: eighty healthy adult female rats (Whister strain) were divided into four groups, 20 rats each. Group I was served as a control group. Groups II, III and IV were given aflatoxin B1 dissolved in olive oil using gastric tube once weekly for 8 consecutive weeks in doses of 5.197, 11.025 and 15.75 mg/kg for the three groups respectively. Five rats from each group were sacrified every 2 weeks and were dissected and their ovaries were processed and examined by the light microscope. The number of mature Graafian follicles, growing follicles, follicular diameter, corpora lutea and the number of the atretic follicles were compared between the four groups in the four observational periods.
Results: Statistical comparison between the different studied groups revealed that statistically significant differences were found between the four groups as regard the mean ± SD of the number of the mature graffian follicles, the mean follicular diameter, the number of growing follicles and number of the corpora lutea (P < 0.05)., with marked decrease in the number of the mature graffian follicles with biggest dose of the aflatoxin at the end of the study. In contrast to other types of follicles, comparing the four groups as regard the mean ± SD of number of the atretic follicles shows statistically significant differences between the four groups either at any given period of dissection or at the end of the study (P < 0.05), with marked increase in the number of the atretic follicles with the biggest dose of the aflatoxin and at the end of the study (P < 0.001). Conclusion: It can be concluded that the aflatoxin has a deleterious effect on ovarian follicles and may be incriminated as a cause of anovulation in infertile couples.